SEOUL: South Korean smartphone maker Samsung may unveil a game-changer device next year which can be a 5-inch smartphone when folded and turn into a 7-inch tablet when opened, a media report said.

A prototype of foldable display is finished with development and the company is hoping to mass-produce the device starting from second half of this year, Korean news site ETNews reported.

Samsung reportedly invested into several technologies that are needed to build foldable smartphone.

The device can bend a screen in half by using OLED Display. One can carry it like a wallet and use it by opening it.

"Development of foldable OLED is taking place according to our plan. We are planning on mass-production and release of this product by discussing with our partners," Lee Chang-hoon, director of Samsung Display, said in January this year.

"Although mass-production cannot be concluded hastily since Samsung Electronics still has few other major tasks to complete, I have heard that Samsung Electronics had made considerable amount of results in the time being," a representative of an industry was quoted as saying.

Several people ET spoke with about Ericsson’s India operations, including its current and former employees, said the Stockholm-based firm has reduced headcount in the last one year or so across functions, in line with its global restructuring.